Amsterdam hotel hosts Japanese Food Festival

From 1 to 14 November 2008, the Japanese owned 5 star Hotel Okura Amsterdam will be presenting its annual culinary and cultural festival in which a particular region of Japan is celebrated, in its two Japanese restaurants. This year’s chosen region is the prefecture of Saga, which is primarily renowned for its beautiful Arita porcelain from the 17th and 18th centuries.

The hotel’s one Michelin star Japanese Restaurant ‘Yamazato’ and the hotel’s traditional Teppanyaki Restaurant ‘Sazanka’ will both be serving a selection of dishes from the Saga region on Arita porcelain and Executive Chef Taniguchi of ‘Taisho-Ya’, a traditional 1925 Ryokan style hotel in Saga, will be travelling from Saga especially for the event.

Executive Chef Taniguchi will be preparing various specialties from the region with the Hotel Okura’s Executive Chef, Akira Oshima and Chefs de Cuisine Masanori Tomikawa and Masashi Nonaka. One of the specialities they will be serving is steamed Wagyu Shabu Shabu. Freshly harvested Saga rice will be flown in especially for the event.

Arita porcelain is distinguished by blue designs on a white background, usually of flowers. This porcelain was largely manufactured for the Dutch market and therefore exported and brought to the Netherlands by Dutch East India Company ships.

Tragically, a lot of porcelain in Japan itself was destroyed in various earthquakes. In the Netherlands, however, Arita porcelain can still be admired in several places, one of them being the Dutch National Museum of Ethnology (Museum Volkenkunde) in Leiden. Together with the museum, Hotel Okura Amsterdam has put together a package to offer guests the opportunity to learn more about Saga cuisine served on Arita porcelain, and also to see the antiques in Leiden. In addition, a number of porcelain factories from Arita will be displaying objects in the hotel restaurants.

The special Saga Festival package at Hotel Okura Amsterdam costs 458 Euros (£362) to include a one night stay for two people in a standard room on a bed and breakfast basis, plus dinner in the Yamazato Restaurant for 2 people, a welcome drink; a sake from Saga and two entrance tickets to Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden, about 30 minutes by train from the hotel. Excluding 5% city tax. Alternatively the same package is available in the Sazanka Teppanyaki restaurant and costs 446 Euros (£352).

To book visit Okura.nl, Yamazato.nl or Sazanka.nl.